The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner

On August the 15th 1945 after the official surrender of the Empire of Japan Admiral Matome Ugaki led the last Special Attack Force pilots across the Pacific to crash into American ships Thirtyfive years later the men who serviced the aeroplanes are still meeting up for their annual dinner Now settled into civilian jobs dentist baker taxidriver insurance salesman and with children and grandchildren they bemoan the decay of traditional Japanese values Hard liquor is imbibed toasts raised to the memory of the heroic dead and old rivalries resurface The survivors dissatisfaction with postwar life comes to a head when in a moment of drunken inspiration Tokkotai the airline pilot decides on a symbolic gesture to show that the kamikaze spirit lives on